Reviving The Bishop’s Garden

Leica Monochrom, 50mm Noctilux.

We read in the morning’s paper that the Bishop’s Garden at the National Cathedral apparently received a second insult, from which it is recovering. It’s not enough that a rare earthquake, which two summers ago did so much damage to D.C. that the Washington Monument is today shrouded in what looks like a modernist condom — a spectacularly designed modernist condom, to be sure — but that earthquake also toppled spires on the National Cathedral, which led to unsightly cranes and scaffolding. As it turns out, however, one of those cranes fell and damaged Washington’s essential urban garden, an area of respite from the busy city, a peaceful and beautiful space.